A/HRC/24/38 respect of the will of the voters. Although founded on majority rule, a democratic society must recognize and apply individual, minority and group rights. In other words, majority rule must be understood within the context of the rule of law and human dignity. As highlighted by the European Court of Human Rights, “Pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness are hallmarks of a ‘democratic society’. Although individual interests must on occasion be subordinated to those of a group, democracy does not simply mean that the views of a majority must always prevail: a balance must be achieved which ensures the fair and proper treatment of people from minorities and avoids any abuse of a dominant position.”14 This resolves the tension between populism and human rights, since democracy must not be abused to diminish human rights, e.g. by legitimizing torture or capital punishment, even if public opinion could be invoked or manipulated to demand it. Thus, it is necessary to strengthen the enforcement of national and regional bills of rights to provide a process and atmosphere for democracy to flourish, ensured by an independent judiciary that provides the necessary protection of both majority and minority interests. 19. Democracy has an old evolutionary history and has been adjusted to the needs of many different societies and cultures. There is no single “model” of democracy,15 and no one should pretend that “one size fits all” and that one particular manifestation of democracy should be exported to countries that function differently, where the political process corresponds to other traditions. When approaching the concept of democracy, one should look beyond the label and ask the crucial question: What is the correlation between the needs and the will of the people and the political decision-making affecting them? A corollary to that question is: To what degree was truthful, reliable and pluralistic information available to facilitate genuine participation by the people in the development of law and practice? Democracy is not the end product, but the means to the end, which is the enjoyment of human rights by all. 20. In order to test the existence or otherwise of international democracy in recent times, one may ask whether States and peoples, including non-represented peoples, have had a democratic opportunity of participating in decisions concerning important issues, such as war and peace, global warming, the environment, trade relations, access to medicine and the common heritage of humankind. More concretely, would a majority of States approve the application of sanctions regimes selectively and not uniformly? Would they have approved the use of force against Serbia in 1999, against Iraq in 2003 and against Libya in 2011? Should the international community have had a voice in determining whether all avenues of peaceful negotiation had been exhausted? Should civil society be allowed a degree of participation on “technical” decisions on free trade and other agreements that result in widespread unemployment? And with regard to regional arrangements and regional constitutional law, should the citizens of the countries concerned be allowed to vote directly in favour or against treaties entailing a significant restriction of national sovereignty, e.g. should the citizens of the European Union have had an opportunity to vote by referendum on the adoption of the Treaty of Lisbon? Should they have had a say in decisions to impose or lift embargoes in situations of civil war? With regard to the reunification of the island of Cyprus, would a constitutional convention in which all Cypriot communities would have had an opportunity to negotiate a grass-roots constitution have resulted in a democratic instrument that could have bridged the impasse by involving all stakeholders?16 This non-exhaustive list of international disorder illustrates that 14 15 16 European Court of Human Rights, Case of Leyla Sahin vs. Turkey, Application no. 44774/98, para. 108. Preamble, Human Rights Council Resolution 19/36, 23 March 2012. Andreas Auer et al. A principled basis for a just and lasting Cyprus settlement in Light of International and European Law, Brussels, 2005. Andreas Auer/Vasiliki Triga, A Constitutional 7